Stonehill women's basketball team defeats Franklin Pierce

The Skyhawks lock up a first-round bye in the Northeast-10 Conference tournament with an 81-67 victory over the Ravens on Wednesday night.

Jim Fenton The Enterprise @JFenton_ent

EASTON – With the Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball tournament opening next week, Stonehill College now knows where it will be seeded.

The Skyhawks secured the No. 2 seed in the Northeast Division by virtue of an 81-67 victory over Franklin Pierce University on Wednesday night at Merkert Gym.

Stonehill (17-6, 14-5 in the conference) will finish the regular season by traveling to top-ranked and unbeaten Bentley University on Saturday and play the home finale next Tuesday against Saint Anselm College.

The Skyhawks will have a bye in the first round of the NE-10 tournament and host a quarterfinal-round game on March 2.

“It’s big,’’ said Stonehill coach Trisha Brown of having some time off before the postseason. “We could use a little rest going into the playoffs. It’ll give us a chance to have some good preparation for the first game.’’

Stonehill, which has won 10 of its last 12 games, improved to 9-1 at home by building a 27-point lead during the first half and then denying a comeback bid by the Ravens (14-10, 11-8) in the second half.

The Skyhawks had their advantage trimmed all the way down to nine points (72-63) with less than five minutes to play, but then scored the next nine points to regain control.

Seniors Mary Louise Dixon (23 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals) and Asia Ewing (16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots) led the way for Stonehill.

“There was a lot of senior pride there,’’ said Brown. “You can tell they’re coming to the end of their home games here at Merkert. They’re doing everything they can to get us wins, which showed tonight.’’

Dixon was the main reason why Stonehill had a 52-28 halftime lead as she had 14 points, making her first five shots, and was setting up teammates with six assists while the Skyhawks did not have a turnover.

“I thought our shot selection was just great,’’ said Brown, whose team shot 64 percent in the half. “M.L. just created so many great opportunities for her teammates. There was nothing they could do but score. Some of her penetrations into the paint really gave some nice opportunities for us.’’

Franklin Pierce kept chipping away at the Stonehill lead during the second half, and an 11-2 run got the Ravens within 11 points with just over 10 minutes to go. A layup by Dyamond Gardner put Franklin Pierce down by just 72-63 with 4:54 left, but that was as close as it would get.

Paige Marshall (10 points) hit back-to-back jumpers, Shannon Brown (13) made two free throws, Dixon connected on a jumper and Tori Faieta added a foul shot for the 9-0 spree that put the game away.

“That’s where I like our veteran team,’’ said Brown. “We showed a lot of poise when they cut it to nine. We moved the ball a little bit better offensively and came up with rebounds to stop that run.’’

Now, the Skyhawks try to stop Bentley’s perfect season in Waltham this weekend.

“It’s just such a great rivalry,’’ said Brown. “We don’t have to talk about motivation or getting up for the game. For us, it’s going to be having a good defensive strategy going in.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons and they’re playing like an undefeated team. We’ll just have to battle each possession and you can’t take possessions off like we did tonight.

“I think our kids will be prepared for the atmosphere and it’ll prepare us for the playoffs, which will be great.’’

Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.